Remains Brave {New War Series Book 1}

Chapter 3: The Hanging Tree

September 6th, One

"It is happening. I need your help," Mike says as he shakes me awake. Disoriented from sleep I stumble to get my feet working under me.

"What's happening?" I whisper. All of the others were still asleep. My watch tells me its two in the afternoon.

"She's in labor. Her water just broke. She said there is pressure on her tailbone. Told me to get you to help. She said you've delivered animals before," he replies in a desperate panic. I walk as he talks to me on the way to the house.

The screen door creeks loudly as I throw it open on my way into the house. Kay is in a squatting position in the kitchen over a puddle of amniotic fluid. Her breathing is labored, and her hands are gripping to her abdomen.

"Okay, have you felt the head yet? You need to breath," I say, mainly because I think I've heard people say that in movies to mothers having a baby. I've only dealt with livestock births, not a person who can talk through it.

"Na-not yet. I feel another strong contraction coming though," she says as she reaches to feel around for a head. I grab her arm to lead her to the living room.

"The baby could get injured if it falls on the floor. Mike can you throw some towels on the couch? Kay walk with me to the other room," I say in an almost overly calm voice given the situation. She nods and grips my arm as we walk to the other room.

Mike has already run ahead and put down towels. As she sits her body clenches in response to another contraction. Mike stands beside me looking paler than I do.

As I position her legs on either side of me, she starts to push and after a few seconds she relaxes.

"Mike, do you have gloves?" I ask and he nods. He disappears for a few seconds and then immerges with a set of black plastic gloves.

As I put the gloves on, I hear her get ready for another push. I remember vaguely watching delivery videos for humans back when I was wanting to be an OBGYN before I switched to veterinary. I silently thank God for my memory and my weird obsession with childbirth at such a young age.

"When you get ready to push, I'm going to count to ten with you. You will push until I get to ten and then you can relax, you understand?" I say, hoping that I remembered the videos right. She nods and then she sucks in a breath of air before she starts to push. I count with her through the contraction and around eight seconds in I see the baby's head begin to crown.

"Keep pushing, okay you can breathe," I say as I put my fingers over the hard part of the baby's head that I could grab.

"You're almost done, the baby's head is out, we have a few more big pushes. Okay?" I ask and she nods.

Just then I hear the door open and I freeze. Mike jumps up but before he could take a step Dak pokes his head through the door and we make eye contact for a moment. The realization spreads across his face as he takes in the scene.

"I'm uhh... sorry to interrupt... I'm going to go," he says before running back out. I relax a little and get back focused on the task at hand. If that was a Bene ground patrol, we were going to be screwed. I breathe out and snap myself back into focus.

"Alright Kay, focus on me. We have three more pushes," I say, and she breathes out and then I can tell the contraction was coming. She cries out and I stabilize the head, so the baby's body is still in the birth canal.

"Mike. I need an aspirator. The bulb, do you have one?" I ask and he answers by sticking one in my hand. Kay takes more deep breaths while I cleaned the baby's airways. Before I could say anything, Kay started to push. The baby's head turned, and I gently guided the head down so the shoulders could come out. Luckily, the cord wasn't wrapped around his head. I wasn't ready for that yet.